Working group: Agrochemicals - plant surface interaction

Reducing the use of synthetic agrochemicals is of high importance for a sustainable agricultural production. However, insects and plant diseases are major causes of crop losses worldwide. Hence, the trade-off between the use of agrochemicals in agricultural production and the fate of those active ingredients for plant health itself and the environment must be evaluated. In addition, the dose-response of either conventional agrochemicals or bio-based agricultural sprays on crop production is in dare need to be optimized, as the increasing trend of atmospheric drought due to climate change and pollution impacts will most likely negatively affect the dose response. Therefore, the main research activities of our group focus on optimizing the dose response of foliar applications with lesser impacts on the eco-physiology of crop plants and the environment by evaluating adjuvancy properties as well as UV-stability, rainfastness, impact on deposit characteristics; and by monitoring leaf gas exchange, biological efficacy and phytotoxicity of active ingredients based on fluorescence techniques and surface analytics.